An entertaining assortment of stories that pay tribute to a bevy of endearing pups.
Chandler’s YA collection of 14 short stories depicts the interactions between humans and dogs.
Although most of the stories collected here have human narrators, the opener, “Ain’t No Fence High Enough,” is narrated by a beautiful young greyhound, Freebie, who escapes from a cruel, abusive owner. Readers meet Freebie as he’s running what will be his last race. As he struggles to move up the line of racing hounds, he feels the pain and exertion: “Now my feet hurt all the time and my head feels lighter than a butterfly. Maybe my trainer is doping me by putting stuff in my food or in the water I drink.” After he finishes in fourth place, he faces an even more dire fate; so begins an adventure in which the clever greyhound has his chance to shine. Next up is “For Want of a Wag,” a tale about a 15-year-old girl, Wanda, who’s training her sheepdog-collie mix, Ruffian, for an agility competition. During the lead-up to the event, Wanda applies for a summer job with an abrasive manager, Mr. Quibble, who rejects her application because she lacks work experience. But at the agility competition, it’s Wanda who teaches Mr. Quibble a lesson in compassion, both in his relationship to his dog and in his treatment of humans. Several stories later, Freebie narrates a sequel to the opening entry (“Bark Is a 4-Letter Word”), this time recounting two love stories, one between two humans and the other between their respective pups. He and the kind owner who adopted him in the opening story are walking down the street when Freebie meets Peaches, a labradoodle, who immediately steals his heart, inspiring him to stand up to an aggressive Rottweiler in the dog park to show Peaches that he’s not a wimp—but relationship issues between the humans may compromise the canines’ romance. The collection highlights the antics of a wide variety of pooches—playful toy dogs, hunting dogs, and one little Boston terrier who has identity issues. A courageous Dalmatian firehouse dog narrates the anthology’s finale, “Perils of the Flame,” recounting a life-threatening adventure that makes him a town hero.
Chandler’s prose is pleasantly conversational, light on linguistic complexity, and easily accessible for the early range of YA readers. Through a mixture of adventure, humor, and a touch of pathos (as in the case of Harlequin, a depressed 150-pound Great Dane who left home believing his family no longer wanted him), the dogs will win over readers completely; they’re the innocent, albeit frequently rambunctious, conveyers of important lessons in love, loyalty, and compassion. In more than one story, they’re also detectives and lifesavers. In others, their behavior exposes the human frailties and insecurities hiding behind pompous exteriors. “Clandestine Caper” is entirely about the individual humans on a mission to rescue dogs from a testing laboratory, and although readers don’t get to know the canines directly, the piece shines a bright light on the issue of unethical treatment of laboratory dogs. With intermittent tense moments that keep the pages turning, the stories are upbeat and, happily, do not require an accompanying box of tissues.
An entertaining assortment of stories that pay tribute to a bevy of endearing pups.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9798877311398
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution.
A teenage girl finds herself alone after everyone else in her town mysteriously disappears, leaving her scrambling to figure out how to find them all.
One late summer day, everybody in July Fielding’s town disappears. She is left to piece together what happened, following a series of cryptic signs she finds around town urging her to “GET THEM BACK.” The narrative moves back and forth between July’s present and the events of the summer before, when her relationship with her best friend, cross-country team co-captain Sydney, starts to fracture due to a combination of jealousy over July’s new relationship with a cute boy called Sam and sweet up-and-coming freshman Ella’s threatening to overtake Syd’s status as star of the track team. The team members participate in a ritual in which they jump off a cliff into the rocky waters below at the end of their Friday practice runs. Though Ella is reluctant, Syd pressures her to jump. Short, frenetically paced sections move the story along quickly, and there is much foreshadowing pointing to something terrible that occurred at the end of that summer, which may be the key to July’s current predicament, but there is much misdirection too. Ultimately this is a story without enough setup to make the turn the book takes in the end feel fully developed or earned. All characters read white.
A high-concept premise that falls short in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
A satisfying rivals-to-lovers romance played to the beat of marching bands and D&D dice rolls.
Can former friends, now members of mutually antagonistic marching band sections, trade rivalry for love?
In Glen Vale High’s marching band, the percussion section and color guard are bitter rivals. Senior Hazel Buchanan, whose mother—a former Glen Vale Marching Knights trumpet player—pours on the pressure to succeed, is captain of the unfortunately mediocre color guard. Recently, her junior high friend and secret crush, Max Coleman, moved back to town—and he’s grown distractingly hot. However, not only does he play percussion, for unknown reasons he’s taken against Hazel. While mean pranks and an ill-conceived bet fuel the band rivalry, at home, Hazel’s parents welcome Max’s mother back into their Dungeons & Dragons game—and the parents assume the two will hang out together like they used to. Can D&D offer Hazel and Max, who present white, a path back to friendship—and maybe more? Fans of both marching band and D&D will find much to love in the detailed descriptions of both activities and how they resonate through the characters’ lives. While the band rivalry feels somewhat contrived, Max and Hazel’s personal challenges ring true. As Max struggles with his parents’ separation, Hazel faces her mother’s crushing expectations, trying to train and bond her rookie team, and being a first-time Dungeon Master. The romance between these two overly competitive ex-friends is sweet.
A satisfying rivals-to-lovers romance played to the beat of marching bands and D&D dice rolls. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9780593899229
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
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